structure of a songwriting evening

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Permalink Reply by Alex Boxall on November 10, 2009 at 1:28pm

Hi,

I recently went to a songwriting seminar/workshop thing run by resoundworship.org (an awesome site for free new songs by the way!) and have also been on a songwriting course with three established british songwriters, which took place over 6 weeks a few years back.

As this is run by your worship team, I am going to make an assumption that you are all friends and that you all get along well. I think this is imperative, particularly if there are non-songwriters in the group.

If I were running a songwriting evening, I would suggest that, at least for the first few times you do it, that people bring their own songs to play for the group to critique. I would also explain first a little bit about the format for critiquing a song. At the seminar I went to recently they provided a good format for this:

First start with something positive - essentially, if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all! (to quote my mother when I was growing up!)

Second talk about what could be improved, what you didn't like and why. Try to stay away from stylistic likes and dislikes, i.e. some people don't like rock music, but that doesn't mean that all rock songs are not good.

Thirdly end with something else about the song that you like.

If I were to run a songwriting evening, I would probably try to make it as relaxed and informal as possible. (food would be my ideal way of doing this, though probably not a sit down meal! - it's hard to play guitar/piano when sat at the table!)

I personally would always start with prayer and end with prayer, helping to focus people on why we are writing the songs, i.e. for the glory of God, and nothing else!

Just my two pence I thought I'd throw in!

Hope it goes well,

Alex

Permalink Reply by Christopher Michael Short on November 10, 2009 at 11:40pm

I like Alex's idea of bringing something with. I know as a song writer i have LOTS of unfinished ideas (can i get an AMEN???) and a chance to share these thoughts with other like-minded worshippers could prove a good starting point. Maybe start with a chord progression or melody and just let the band/group flow with it in "free worship" and see where it goes!

Permalink Reply by Michael Cipolla on November 11, 2009 at 4:21am

BUILDING BLOCKS OF A SONG
By Paul Baloche
Intangible Elements
1.) MESSAGE (The Central Main Theme of the Song)
2.) STYLE
3.) ATMOSPHERE (Where do you want this song to take us)
Tangible Elements 1.) FORM (Sturcture of the Song) A = Verse, B = Chorus, C = Bridge
A-A-A-A
A-A-B-B-B
A-B-A-B-C-B-B A-A-B-A
A-A-B-C-A-B
A-A-B-A-B-C-B-B A-B-A-B
A-B-A-B-C-A-B
A-B-A-B-C-A-B-B

2.) LYRICS (Words) ---------------- Euphony (Flowing together with Beautiful Sounds) vs. Cacophony (Clashing of Harsh Sounds)
Use of Parallelism Use of the right word (Lighthouse; sunshine; candle;glory-all have different surrounding) Use of Personification Use of the same rhyme pattern in each verse Use of Similies ex. "You are like a Rose" Use of the stronger line in the last of the couplet of verse or chorus Use of Metaphors ex. "You are a Rose" Use of Allegories ex. The Parables of Jesus __________________________________________________________________ 3.) MELODY (Tune)
Hooks
a.) Use of Repetition b.) Use of Song Title Hook c.) Use of Bookend Hooks (Beginning and the End of Song)
4.) HARMONY (Chord Structure or Voicing)
Balanced Chord Changes
5.) RHYTHM (Type of Beat) Use of Drums (Fast Beat, Techno Beat, Congas, etc.)